July 07, 2006

Religious leaders forget their differences

Here’s a heartwarming story. Amongst the age-old strife in Israel, religious officials from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities have buried their differences and come together in a never before seen union, for a common purpose. What could that be, you ask, what common cause could have brought these diverse people together? Well obviously – to ban a gay parade. Get a load of the peace and love that is the united voice of religions:

"I promise there's going to be bloodshed - not just on that day, but for months afterward," declared New York Rabbi Yehuda Levin, a representative of the Rabbinical Alliance of America.

…

"If gays will dare approach the Temple Mount during the parade, they will do so over our dead bodies," said MK Ibrahim Sarsur (United Arab List- Ta'al).

…

"Go send them to parade somewhere else," said one Sufi cleric. "That place can become Sodom, and God can smite them there."

And God bless you too. Isn’t it great that all the usual hatred and violence for each other, inspired by their different sky-fairies, can just this once be put aside to focus on what is really important – stopping queers from marching. God must be proud.

Every so often I become ashamed of my Jewish heritage. This is one of those times... my relatives were sent to concentration camps along with gays and now my people want those who suffered alongside them to be smited? This is both infuriating and disgusting.

A Jew, a Christian and a Muslim walk into a bar.
The Jew says: There are no Jewish homosexuals.
The Christian says: There are no Christian homosexuals.
The Muslim says: There are no Muslim homosexuals.

That’s it. That’s the joke. Well, no. Actually these are all quotes, but I heard them over the radio (I’m from Israel) and not in a bar. The bar makes it all work, though.

In times like this I wonder where the world would be if it wasn’t for religion.
We would probably find other stupid reasons to fight about, but we would than be deprived of such pearls of wisdom.